|
|
 |
Iron Monkey
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Buena Vista Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (2nd October 2009). |
|
The Film
 Of the thousands of Kung-fu films that populate the market, only a key few stand out as true cinematic classics. "Iron Monkey" is certainly one of those films that remains true to its classic Kung-fu themes of honor and loyalty. These themes can sometimes be lost amid complex character relationships and numerous story arcs that tend to muddle the true nature of the film. The simplest of plots often make for the most interesting and entertaining Kung-fu stories mainly because the martial arts itself is a key element to the narrative and does not simply exist for the sake of it, like a lot of run-of-the-mill action films. "Iron Monkey" is a sort of Eastern Robin Hood tale, where a masked vigilante rises up for the poor and fights against a corrupted Governor, he steals form him and gives back to the poor. A simple story that doesn't "Iron Monkey" tells the story of a village doctor, Dr. Yang (Rongguang Yu) who moonlights as the vigilante Iron Monkey, this masked warrior has become a pain for the local Governor, Cheng (James Wong) and insists on his arrest and will not stop tormenting the population until the Iron Monkey is behind bars. In a fit of rage he orders his guards to arrest anyone that they suspect might be the masked vigilante, but in doing so they arrest Wong Kei-Ying (Donnie Yen) and his son. Upon discovering his abilities, the Governor orders Kei-Ying to find the Iron Monkey in exchange for his son's freedom. Unfortunately Kei-Ying and the Iron Monkey form an alliance after his son is rescued from the dungeon but they face and even greater challenge when the Royal Official Hiu Hing (Shi-Kwan Yen) arrives and seeks to destroy the Iron Monkey. Much like "The Legend of Drunken Master" (1993), the fight scenes in this film go from impressive to incredible. I was particularly impressed with the village brawl between Kei-Ying's son and the street hoodlums using only an umbrella as a weapon. It was incredible to say the least and casts a shadow over action scenes that feature seasoned professionals. It's also of note that the film's fight scenes start impressively and continue to progress into the most exciting action scenes in a Kung-fu film, especially the final fight on the burning logs, your jaw will drop in sheer awe of the mastery of that scene alone. The wire-fu style does get a but tedious at times, but the film uses an equal amount of hand-to-hand action and the fight scenes are a credit to the ingenious, clever and imaginative Woo-Ping Yuen. The film isn't exactly perfect, like some Kung-fu films there always seems like the need to throw in some comedic elements, audiences responded well to the inclusion of these, especially since the rise of Jackie Chan's popularity whose career was built upon his comedic sensibilities that he brought to each film. However, with "Iron Monkey" the comedy seems out of place, a prime example is when Dr. Ying impersonates the Royal official. One of the reasons it stands out so badly is that it's the only comedic element that survived in this cut-down "American" version of the film, which I suppose is the only good thing about having this shorter version. The film's producer Tsui Hark's insisted on filming these scenes after production had ended, which delayed the original release of the film. I suppose the wait wasn't nearly as long as American audiences, that didn't get a chance to see it theatrically until 2001, a full eight years after it was released in Hong Kong. Another problem we have here is that this is the cut-down "American" version of the film, the changes have included toning down the violence, dumbing down the subtitles to remove a lot of the original political context of the story, as well as the comedic elements as mentioned before, plus the music was changed as well. The shorter cut certainly gets to the point quicker without too much of the political underpinnings, but I would have like the opportunity to see the original Hong Kong version as well, in this era of Blu-ray HD I can't see why fans can't have both?
Video
Presented in a widescreen ratio of 1.85:1 in high-definition 1080p 24/fps and mastered in AVC MPEG-4 compression codec. After reviewing the shocking transfer on "The Legend of Drunken Master" I was anticipating something similar here... thankfully the image wasn't as bad as I thought. While there are still problems such as lack of depth, flatness, muddied colors and heavy noise amid certain shots the image is mostly clean with a few specks and bits of dirt here and there. Texture is much better than the previous DVD edition of this film and it's a fair bit brighter. Blacks aren't great, but there was no evidence of DNR or edge-enhancement. Overall it's a good image that still requires a lot of work to make it look great in HD.
Audio
Three audio tracks are featured in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mixed at 48kHz/24-bit as well as the original Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 surround. While the disc includes its original soundtrack I was disappointed that it's on standard Dolby Digital 5.1 instead of a lossless HD audio, instead we get the English dub in this format only. I chose to ignore the DTS-HD track altogether and view the film with its original Cantonese track instead. The 5.1 mix is lacking in aggressiveness, there's limited depth but dialogue is clear and distortion free, sound effects are present but don't have the same punch and effect that more modern sound mixes possess, and the music is mostly background stuff that doesn't overwhelm but could be a but more present. Optional subtitles are included in English, English for the hearing impaired and Spanish.
Extras
Buena Vista has released this film with only a minimal amount of extras that include two interviews and a collection of bonus trailers. Below is a closer look at these supplements. First up is an interview clip with Quentin Tarantino that runs for 9 minutes 19 seconds. In this clip the filmmaker comments on the genre, the action scenes and what American audiences expect from action films. He also talks about the themes in Kung-fu films, the use of kung-fu as a narrative device among other things. While its nice to see Tarantino comment excitedly about the film and the genre, I would have much preferred an in-depth making-of instead. The second interview clip is with actor Donnie Yen which runs for 6 minutes 21 seconds, the actor comments briefly about his career, growing up in he world of martial arts, getting discovered by Woo-Ping Yuen among other things including working on "Iron Monkey" as he comments on his character. Rounding out the supplements are a collection of bonus trailers for: - "Adventureland" which runs for 1 minute 35 seconds. - "Lost: The Complete Fifth Season" which runs for 58 seconds. - "The Proposal" which runs for 1 minute 32 seconds. - "Miramax Films" spot which runs for 2 minutes 36 seconds. - "Disney Blu-ray" spot which runs for 1 minute 1 seconds.
Overall
|
|||||
|